Effective length of aluminium T-stub connections by parametric analysis

The paper presents a parametric analysis carried out on welded aluminium T-stubs by means of Finite Element models. The applied models are suitably calibrated on the basis of available experimental tests. The study is carried out on a large variety of specimens with different features and different type of bolts, in order to analyse all possible failure mechanisms. Totally, 43 models are analysed and the obtained results are carefully elaborated in order to check the reliability of the methods presently provided by Eurocode 9. The paper represents a significant extension of the experimental and numerical analyses carried out by the authors in the past, which were especially devoted to analyse the definition of effective length for aluminium T-stubs. The obtained results allow to yield interesting outcomes that should be incorporated in future editions of relevant codes dealing with aluminium structures. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.